SARS-CoV-2 infections in outpatients with cancer: Most infected patients are asymptomatic carriers without impact on chemotherapy

Hempel, D.; Milani, V.; Kleespies, A.; Hempel, L.; Ebner, F.; Zehn, D.; Keim, S.

Background: It is still unclear whether oncological patients harbor a higher risk for an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 and for developing severe forms of COVID-19. Furthermore, it is unclear whether an infection affects essential therapy treatment and if a therapy increases the risk for an infection. Method(s): We tested every patient (n=1286) in 7 different oncology outpatient clinics from 04/15/2020 and 04/26/2020 for COVID-19 infection regardless of whether symptoms were present or not. Virus RNA was extracted using the MGIEasy extraction kit in combination with SP-960 robots and a RT qPCR was performed. Result(s): From 1286 tested patients 40 (3.1%) patients were identified positive. Only two of those (5.0%) had mild symptoms whereas one positive patient (2,5%) was treated stationary with pneumonia. The majority (37/40) was asymptomatic virus-carriers (92,5 %). Noteworthy is the fact that 22 (55%) of the positively tested patients were undergoing systemic therapy of which 10 (45.5%) patients received chemotherapy and 4 (18.2%) patients received immunomodulating antibodies. Conclusion(s): A consequent testing for COVID-19 in cancer patients is obligate to identify asymptomatric positive carrier to separate this potential vector group from COVID negative patients since the majority (37/40) of positive patients was asymptomatic virus-carriers (92,5 %). The data we collected contrasts strongly the hypothesis that cancer patients are suspected to be highly vulnerable for SARS-CoV-2 infections. Only a minority (3/40) of positively tested tumor patients showed symptoms. An asymptomatic COVID-19 infection seems to have no impact on the further course of a chemotherapy. Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors. Funding(s): Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest. Copyright © 2020